All Of Me
by Miss Fenway
Summary: James never knew that love could hurt so much.


**A/N. Hola! This is my newest multi-chapter story. It's about James which is. . . different. But different is good, right? Anyway, this story was inspired by a song by Matt Hammitt called, "All Of Me." It's a beautiful song and I don't want to give too much away before we get into the story itself, but I suggest you listen to it or at least look up the lyrics. When I first heard it, I wanted to write a story and although it took me a little while, I finally decided to go with James for reasons that will hopefully become clear in the future. Anyway, enough of me talking. I don't own anything.**

Life was unpredictable. Ten years ago, if someone had asked James Diamond what he would be doing with his life, he would have replied without hesitation, that he planned to be a famous pop star in Hollywood. No matter how old he got, he would never give up on his dream and move away from Los Angeles, California. Nothing, no one could change his mind.

That was ten years ago when he was eighteen and having what he thought, was the time of his life. He was part of a popular boy band, Big Time Rush, with his three best friends. They were climbing the music charts every single week. Girls were after all of them. Everyone knew all of their names. What more could he ask for? James was sure that life couldn't get any better.

But that was ten years ago. Before he met her. James first saw Courtney the day before he turned twenty-one. He had been forced out of Apartment 2J by his best friends who were obviously trying to prepare for a not so surprising surprise birthday party. James hadn't been all that unwilling. He had been bored anyway and it was a good excuse to get out.

Unfortunately, he walked the city streets for all of fifteen minutes before the skies opened up and he became drenched with rain. With no other choice, James ducked into a nearly empty cafe to call one of his friends to pick him up. And that's when he saw her.

She was sitting at a table all by herself, scribbling something down in a well used spiral notebook, a cup of coffee in her free hand. Curly dark hair hung loose, framing her heart shaped face. She didn't even look up when James walked over to her table until he cleared his throat and asked if he could join her.

James actually had no idea what had possessed him to do such a thing. He was a flirt, yes, but it was always all for show. This time, he felt a real, honest-to-goodness flutter in his heart when he first saw her. He had never been one to believe in love at first sight, but in that moment, he was a believer.

She responded to his question by doing something that had only happened once: She _rejected _him. She glanced up from her notebook with a slightly dazed expression on her face, and he caught a glimpse of beautiful dark eyes before her lips curved upwards in a small smile and formed the word, _no_.

"I don't know you," she went on when she took pity on the shock her refusal had on him. "Why would I want to have coffee with a complete stranger?"

"S-stranger!" James repeated, totally caught of guard. "Don't you know who I am? I'm-"

"James Diamond," she interrupted dryly. "You're part of Big Time Rush, world famous boy band. Your best friends are Kendall Knight, Carlos Garcia, and Logan Mitchell. I know who you are, but I've never met you before. Therefore, you're a stranger."

"Well. . ." James pulled out a chair and sat down in it, trying to ignore her seething glare. "Logan and Kendall and Carlos and I were all complete strangers when we first met. Now look at us!"

In spite of her obvious intentions to ignore him, she giggled. "Fair point. Forgive me if I seem a little forward, but you deserve an explanation at least." Closing her notebook, she set it aside and looked him straight in the eye. "James Diamond, I think you're one of the most talented performers I've ever seen. I think you're incredibly good looking and that you probably have the sweetest relationship with all of your friends."

Pleased at her evaluation, James grinned and folded his arms across his chest. "Well, thank you." he told her. "Is that all, or-"

"I also think that you're incredibly conceited and arrogant. You treat people like they're made to worship you and you act like girls are on this earth to date you and make _you_ look good. Have you ever dated the same girl for more than two weeks?" Mimicking him, she folded her arms and leaned back in her chair, waiting.

"Um," James was very rarely at a loss for words, but this was definitely one of those times. The only people in the world who were ever so blunt to him were his best friends. Any other girl in the world would be perfectly happy to be sitting with him right now, why did he have to pick the one girl who actually presented a challenge? "No one's perfect." he finally said, offering her a pathetic grin.

To his great surprise, she smiled back. "Very true," she admitted as she stirred her coffee and lifted to her lips, taking a small sip. "No one is perfect. Not even James Diamond." But she was teasing this time, he was sure. "You're smarter than I thought at least." she went on. "I thought Logan was the genius of the group."

Relaxing a little more now that she wasn't trying to push him away, James chuckled a ran a hand through his dark brown hair. "He is," he said right away. "Believe me, he's smarter than the rest of us put together. He wants to go to med school to be a doctor."

She looked at him over the rim of her coffee cup. "Aren't you all in your early twenties?" she asked. "How is he going to be in med school if he's part of Big Time Rush."

James smiled and shook his head slightly. "He's waiting until I start my own solo career. That's what he told me anyway. He wants to be sure that if he leaves, it won't ruin everything for me."

Her gaze softened and she smiled back. "He seems like a pretty good friend."

"He is," James agreed. "They all are. They're all the best. I don't know what I'd do without them. I definitely wouldn't be here. Kendall's the one who really gave me the chance to make it to Hollywood. They're all sacrificing their own dreams to help mind come true."

She didn't answer for a while and when he looked up from playing with the napkin dispenser, she was looking at him with a very thoughtful expression on her face. "Your friends mean a lot to you, don't they?" she asked softly.

"They mean everything to me. I'm nothing without them." James felt his face flush with a little color, but he didn't really mind. It was the truest thing he had ever said. "I'd rather be back in Minnesota with them than here in LA without them, but I've been blessed to have both. One day. . ." he trailed off and sighed.

"What are you going to do when they go on to their dreams?" she asked gently.

"Do exactly what they've done for me." he answered without hesitation. "I'll do whatever I can to help them, even if it means giving up on my own dream. I don't know what's going to happen in our future except for the fact that we'll always be best friends. I'd love to be able to stay in the music business for the rest of my life. That's my dream. Dreams don't always come true though. Dreams aren't what we know, they're just what we hope for. What I do know is that no matter what happens, I'll always have Carlos, Logan, and Kendall right there with me."

She was smiling now, looking slightly amused. "You're a completely different person when you talk about your friends, you know." she told him. "You're more humble and more fun to talk to. It's like you're being yourself."

"I am," he told her honestly. "I guess it's because I'm completely comfortable around them and talking about them. They bring out the best in me."

"No kidding," she said jokingly. "You should let them do it more often."

"Maybe I should." James said thoughtfully.

She glanced outside where the sun was trying to peek through the clouds. "I should get going," she said regretfully. "I have a job interview in a hour and a half and I need to get ready for it." Standing up, she smiled and held out her hand for James to shake. "It was nice talking with you, James Diamond."

"Yeah." He didn't want her to go. She was so much like his friends, refusing to accept his act and forcing him to be himself, even though he wasn't entirely comfortable with himself. But he was comfortable around her, even though he had just met her. "You too."

"Maybe," and here, she actually blushed a little. "Maybe I'll see you, around?" She took one of the napkins that James hadn't completely maimed and wrote something on it with the pen she had been using. "Here. My number. If you want-"

"Of course I do!" He grinned at her. "Thank you. For giving me a second chance."

"Thank _you_." she said softly. "For not being scared of me. I tend to do that sometimes. People say I'm too honest."

James shook his head. "I think those people are just too ashamed to hear the truth and too lazy to change things about themselves. Me? I've grown up around that kind of honestly." He laughed. "I've been trying to change myself for the better, but it's a work in progress. Fortunately, I have some really patient friends."

"Aren't we all?" she asked with another smile. "Like you said, no one is perfect." She started walking to the door, nodding goodbye to the waiter behind the counter.

"Wait!" James started after her, nearly bowling her over when she stopped more suddenly than he expected. "Sorry. I- uh. . . I just realized that I didn't get your name." he said sheepishly.

"Oh." she blushed again, the rose color in her cheeks making her look even lovelier. "I'm sorry about that. It's Courtney. My name is Courtney."

"Courtney." James repeated, sounding out the name for himself. "That's a beautiful name."

"Thank you." she said, looking shy. "Well, okay. . . I should be going now. Thanks again, James."

"Sure." But as James watched her, watched _Courtney_, leave, he wasn't sure what she was thanking him for. In all honestly, he was the one who owed her all the thanks.

Ten years ago, James Diamond hadn't believed in love at first sight. Ten years ago, he believed that his dream was all about being a famous pop star in Los Angeles, California. Ten years ago, he couldn't ever imagine settling down and starting a family. Ten years ago, he was sure that he had all he needed with his best friends. But that was ten years ago before he met Courtney and before she proved him wrong on everything he was once positive about.

He now believed in first sight. He now had a family. He had been married to Courtney for seven years now and they had two adorable little girls named, Emmy and Cassie. They were five and three. They had another one on the way. Their first boy. His life had gotten so much better and he wasn't even a pop star in Hollywood anymore. He was back in Minnesota, working a normal, nine to five job. But he couldn't be happier because as far as James was concerned, he had the best friends and family anyone could ever ask for. They were his new dream.

**A/N. I hope this wasn't too boring. I wanted to kind of write an introduction before jumping right into the angst, because this will be _extremely _angsty. All you need to do is look up the song to know that. And if you want, I definitely encourage you to look up the story behind the song. Until next time, I love you all and I hope you enjoy this story. **


End file.
